PATERSON – About a dozen bankers donned aprons and disposable gloves on a recent morning as they started a volunteer shift at Eva’s Village lunch program.

Some worked in the kitchen, preparing piping hot plates of pasta with turkey sausage and vegetables. Others wheeled carts loaded with plates of food into the dining area where they distributed meals to more than 200 needy people. Later, the bankers helped clean the tables, sweep the floors and throw out the garbage.

Their efforts were part of an ongoing initiative between Eva’s Village and the New Jersey Bankers Association,. On 25 different days in the space of a year, various banks around New Jersey will send volunteers to help with the lunches at the program on Main Street in Paterson.

“We are so grateful for the kindhearted members of the banking and business community who continue to partner with Eva’s Village to help us fulfill our mission to provide care and support for people struggling with poverty, hunger, homelessness and the scourge of addiction,” said Marie Caliendo, Eva’s manager for corporate and foundation relations.

Each visit from banking industry volunteers also comes with a $1,000 donation, or a total of $25,000 over the course of the initiative, Caliendo said. The state banking association also donated an additional $5,000 on top of its other commitment, Caliendo said.

“The banking industry is very philanthropic,” said Michael Afusso, an executive vice president for the New Jersey Bankers Association, an organization that advocates for the industry within the state. “The outreach to Eva’s is part of that. We want to promote good citizenship.”

Afusso was part of a contingent from the New Jersey Bankers Association's headquarters in Cranford who volunteered last week at Eva’s.

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One member, Emily T. DeMasi, said she was impressed by the nonprofit's overall operation. “When I walked in today and saw the facility, I immediately realized that Eva’s is doing a great job serving the community,” she said. DeMasi is vice president and director of communications for the New Jersey Bankers Association.

Pedro Negron, a meal distribution coordinator at Eva’s Village, said 300 to 400 people daily get their lunch at the community kitchen on Main Street. The nonprofit also provides addiction services, transitional housing and job training.

Erin Suckiel, a volunteer who works as assistant to the director of communications at New Jersey Bankers Association, said her day’s work at Eva’s held some personal significance. Suckiel said she has a “loved one” in recovery from substance abuse.

“He has now been clean for four years,” Suckiel said. “Recovery is really a struggle and you need the help of the people around you to overcome the disease. Now, my loved one has a home, is working and is so much more engaged. I feel a great joy in my heart.”

Besides the crew from the banking association, other volunteers helped serving serve the meal. They included 81-year-old Gordon Peepall of Ridgewood who said he has been a lunch volunteer at Eva’s every Thursday for the past seven years.

“We don’t serve cafeteria style but rather wheel the plates out on trolleys,” Peepall stated. “This has to be organized or it can get complicated. We then clean up spillages, sweep and mop the floors, and throw away any rubbish that has been left behind.”

Alan Bandstra, another longtime volunteer, travels from his home in Allendale to participate in the lunchtime service.

“We are very happy when corporations like the New Jersey Bankers Association, come in, volunteer and give a donation,” Bandstra, 79, said.

Afusso said the banking association also helps Eva’s clients prepare to enter the job market by participating in mock job fairs.

“We want the clients at Eva’s to get used to the interview process,” Afusso said. “Some of them are missing years on their resumes. We want them to know how to answer challenging questions. We then provide them feedback and address their strengths and areas to improve upon.”